The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1887-06-16
RAILROAD DISCRIMINATION.
HOW IT AFFECTS TIE DEVELOPMENT
OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

Press Association, by VIM. Nj. Jones
Esq, Editor of the spartanburg Herald
/ The press of South Carolina ha'
strongly counselled diversity Of crops
and diversity of industry. 1t has done
so forcibly, repeatedly, almost unanl
mously, but without avail. 1t is not my
purpose tonight to adduce arguments
to support the wisdom of this counsel
but to seek the cause which has made il
so barren of results and to seek
remedy.
UNJUST RAILROAD DISCRIMINATION.
The prime cause of our continuance
in our pernicious course lies in the policy
of the railroads of unjust discrimination
against our home Industries in favor of
their foreign competitors.
HOME AND "FoREIGN" FREIGHTs.
1t appears on the surface that the
prosperity of q railroad depends on the
prosperity of the country which sup
ports it, This is q partial fallacy. 1t is
the interest of the people to buy nothing
which they can make proftably; it is to
the interest of the railroads for the peo-
pie to buy everything abroad, and raise
cotton only to pay the debt; to have no
local factories, to produce nothing which
they consume. Before the War Of Sc
cession, when the people produced what
they used and used what they made,
there was little demand for railroad SER
vice, and their traffic was light.
Now, when we bring our meat from
Ohio, our corn from Indiana, our flour
from Illinois, our molasses from Louisi-
ana, our shoes from Massachusetts and
our clothing from New York, and when
we ship our whole cotton crop to pay
the debt, the traffic of the transportation
companies has become immense. The
production of these things at home
would materially diminish the business
of the railroads. Hence it is the interest
of the railroads to suppress all home
manufactures and shut up agriculture to
cotton planting alone. In this class of
interests the railroad managers have not
scrupled to sacrifice the welfare of the
State. They have accomplished their
purpose by an exhorbitant and outrage
Gus discrimination against State enter
prises in favor of their foreign competi-
tors.
CRUSHING TIE HOME MARKETS.
In this day of sharp rivalry the mar
gin of profits, without which no indus
try can live, has become so narrow that
the freight rates control its existence. A
low freight may foster, high freight
will strangle it.
But profits rest even more absolutely
on competition, and this, too, depends
on the arbitrary will of the railroad
rulers. may secure just and reason
able freight rate under which my bust
ness can prosper; if railroads please to
favor my competitor with lower rates he
can undersel me, draw away my custom,
ruin my business and drive me from the
field. 1t is thus that the giant Standard
Oil monopoly was built up and its strug-
Cling rivals crushed to death. 1t is thus
that the giant factories of the North are
able to stranglc our struggling factories
In their infancy.
The discrimination practiced against
the shippers in South Carolina is enough
to paralyZe almost any enterprise.
SOME PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.
A gentleman contemplated the estab-
lishment of q fertilizer factory in Spar
tanburg. 1t is found that the freight
rate from Spartanburg to Wellford, dis
tant on the Piedmont Air Line - miles,
is $3.50 carload, or $1.46 q mile; the
rate from Richmond, Va, is 10 cents q
miir, q discrimination of nearly 1,4OO
per cent. in favor of the foreign shipper.
There could be no claim by the railroad
in this case for extra expense in hand
ling, for the shipper is required to load
his own car, and the railroad is to haul
it at its convenience. The rate to
Pacolet, on the Spartanburg and Union
Road, IL miles distant, is the same,
,$17.60 o carload.
We have in Spartanburg o struggling
door and blind factory. The freight to
GreenVillo, thirty-two miles distant, on
the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Limo is
$32 carload, or 81 mile. The same
freight from Now York to Greenville is
IL cents per mile.
These instances are not exceptional,
and [ have mentioned Spartanburg only
because the rates there were more easily
attainable. Other cities will be found
in like circumstance, and other rates in
like proportion. Instances could be
multiplied indefinitely. BY reference to
the report of the South Carolina railroad
commission we find that the average rate
charged to foreign shipper, Greenvillc
and Columbia Railroad, for each to- OF
freight was nine mills per mile; fol
SooU'1 OhloAhh supper W uOIuC COLI
eumers tifty"six mills per mile, n dis
examination of nearly 600 per cent.
against our South Carolina producers.
LIS ds, 1t strange that in the face of such dis,
crlmlnatlon our local enterprises Ian
gulsh and die, and foreign factories
usurp our home marketp
sPEo1Ah RATES FOR COTTON FACTORIES
There is one class of factories which
have been fostered by the railroads, nnf
ton factories. Their products are no no
specially intended for home consnm,, @ nU
ton. Their goods are shipped prinri +
pally to foreign markets, and tbei,
growth does not diminish railroad bnsi
ness, but rather stimulates the prodnc
ton of the export crop. Hence the rail
roads have lent them strong helpint
hand. Their finished cloth is shipped
from GT eenville to New York at $lO.8O ,
ton; thu raw cotton is charged $13.GO
ton. '!he same goods, shipped by
mercl ant TO New York, would b.